Coffee Haven in Cape Town – Anthony’s Golden Cup

When you find Anthony’s Golden Cup Coffee Shop in Loop Street in Cape Town and spend some time there, you will surely use this as an insider tip for your friends and everyone that asks you about unique spots in Cape Town. “The coffee connoisseurs buy here,” says owner Anthony Swartz. “This is not a fancy coffee shop. We are like an old store house that likes to serve good coffee, that’s all.” If you have coffee-questions, Anthony is the right man to ask. He will tell you all about the different shapes of beans as well as different roasts.

From 1955 on, Anthony Swartz spent 40 years working for the biggest coffee company in Cape Town, ‘The red tea pot’. At the age of 55 in 1995, Anthony opened his own coffee shop on Long Street where he roasted coffee on-site and made lots of contacts with coffee lovers. “The fumes invited the people,” Anthony says. Frankly, I owe it to the fumes of busy Loop street (close to the Christiaan Barnard Hospital) that I found his coffee shop, which he opened in 2005.

“Do you want a good cappuccino?” Anthony asks me. Next thing I know, I stir my spoon through an aromatic cup with a lots of frothy milk and a foam peak. Beautiful. I enjoy the special atmosphere as much as my chat with the coffee man. These days he roasts 200kg of coffee twice a week for restaurants, hotels, guesthouses and individual coffee connoisseurs. In his shop, you get freshly roasted beans from South America and Africa, raw beans, coffee blends, flavoured coffees, coffee machines, muffins, rusks and, of course, a fresh cup of coffee.

Keeping it simple

“We are about the simple way of coffee making. It’s not about a fancy machine, it’s about a good and fresh product. Spend time with your coffee, grind the beans yourself.” says Anthony.

Born in 1939 in Stellenbosch, Anthony is a wise, old man but young at heart. “Why coffee?” I ask him. He tells me that in his earlier years he worked as a lift-operator for a compartment store. “There I got in touch with coffee. We called the coffee shop a ‘birdcage’ because people were like birds in the morning. I like being around people so I decided that one day I wanted my own ‘birdcage’.” So, Anthony looked for a job in coffee and told the aforementioned ‘The red tea pot’ coffee company to let him know when a job was available. “I followed the fumes and they kept me there for 40 years.” says Anthony. Now, after 56 years in the business, Anthony dreams of having a museum to show off his ancient coffee makers.

Anthony’s Golden Cup Coffee Shop is a special place. It’s very personal with Anthony being here at least six hours every day. “People walk out of my shop and congratulate me on my coffee.” concludes Anthony. Come, visit!

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